A law passed by Congress giving the NCUA the power to make payments to the Temporary Corporate Credit Union Stabilization Fund without borrowing from the Treasury sparked an industry discussion about the agency's assessment process.

As the liquidating agent, the NCUA said by law, it is the party, not members or others, to pursue actions first to recover monetary losses that followed the failure of New London Security Federal Credit Union.

If NCUA and state examiners had been more aggressive in their oversight of 10 failed credit unions, losses to the NCUSIF could have been stopped or mitigated, according to a report by the NCUA's Office of Inspector General.